Posco seeks extension of approval for Odisha SEZ

Posco India, which is developing a 12-million tonne per annum steel plant near Paradip has sought extension of in-principle approval granted by the Union commerce and industry ministry for its multi-product Special Economic Zone.

The in-principle nod for SEZ spread over an area of 1,620.5 hectares (4,004 acres) of land expired on October 24 this year. The South Korean steel behemoth has applied for extension for one year.

Justifying the need for extension, Posco India said though the Odisha government had handed over physical possession of 1,704 acres to the company, the land was not completely free from encroachment. The encroachment removal and compensation disbursement process in some areas is still going on.

"The land demarcation process is still being carried out by the concerned authorities and the leasing process is also underway. Since all these activities are still going on, the required documents for the formal approval are not ready as of now. We expect that these activities will take at least three to five months", Posco India's general manager Hak Soo Kim wrote to the development commissioner, Falta SEZ.

The steel major claimed it had achieved considerable progress during the validity of the previous in-principle approval.

For Stage-I, Posco India had requested the Odisha government to provide at least 2,700 acres of land for setting up an eight-million tonne steel plant and the remaining 1,304 acres in the second stage for another four mtpa capacity.

Accordingly, the state government has so far cleared 2,700 acres and handed over possession of 1,704 acres to the steel company.

Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), the nodal agency for land acquisition, is in the advanced stage of handing over another 1,700 acres of land to Posco India.

Posco India is also awaiting revalidation of environment clearance from the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF).

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its last hearing on August 12 this year had asked MoEF to take a decision on revalidation of green clearance for Posco by August 23.

MoEF had granted environment clearance (EC) to Posco for a four-mtpa steel plant in July 2007 with a five-year validity. Without revalidation of EC, Posco India would not be in a position to start construction work.

Posco India, in May 2012, had applied for revalidation of the original EC.